Paris day 3 & Arriving in Edinburgh

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Ok that took a while to figure out what region of Scotland I'm in. The maps kept telling me Edinburgh. Yes, I know I'm in Edinburgh, but please, less specific. No, it's not the name of the region. I know that. I'm all good now. It's under Midlothian in the blog. Whew! I can't find my cities unless I know the regions! I'm learning things!

So on the way to the hostel here in Edinburgh, it definitely took me about 2/3-3/4 of the bus ride to realize that we were definitely driving down the left side of the road. What surprised me was not that we were driving down the L side, but that it took me 20mins to realize it. Been a long couple of weeks.

So anyway, this morning I got myself up a wee bit earlier than I wanted to (not early...) so that I could get in line for the Eiffel Tower before it got crazy long. I went up in the elevators with the windows allllll by myself. I don't like heights in those situations...but I was not going to skip going up because of it! I went straight to the top to avoid growing lines--you actually go up to the first floor, then the second floor, get out and switch elevators to the middle of the tower (the first one goes up one of the "legs" of the tower) to finish the ascent which nearly killed me having to see where we were going and even worse, if I looked up, how much left to go. Once we're on stable ground I only feel a little flighty...like maybe I'll blow over the rail...but need not worry, I managed. By the time I went down, I was used to it. I didn't really stop on the 2nd floor for long except to get into line to go down because I pretty much saw it all and being my last day, I decided to meet up with friends for lunch sooner rather than later!

So I caught up with Faye and Jake...just after a bird smacked Faye in the forehead. Yep, birds are dumb in Europe. We went back to Lorena's place and had Parisian Quiche for lunch. Was very good! Afterward we walked to the burial palace(?) of Napoleon (I can only say his name in French now, you know). I had to leave after that to finish getting my stuff together and to get to the bus station.

Bus station was quick. I arrived just before one bus was leaving so I rushed onto that one. Got to the airport way early, sought out some food, then they opened check in, then I searched out water and then opened boarding, then I sat on the floor waiting til we could really board because our flight was delayed but I couldn't hear what they said so I had no idea til when. Luckily our plane was only about a half hour late. Sooooo by the time we got to Edinburgh and I took the bus to Waverly station and walked to my hostel, it was 12:30am. I think. Yeah. I suddenly realized that the time difference changed and I gained an hour. YES! I made friends with a couple American travelers about my age and we actually sat together on the plane then found the bus together and figured out where we were going together. I appreciated not having to navigate alone even though I actually figured out where I was going!

I'm now sitting in the common area of the hostel typing away and sorry, I didn't upload more photos from today and my sd card is so not on me and the internet won't upload other photos so sorry. Imagine it today!

Tomorrow I'm going to try to do a free walking tour, then maybe the Edinburgh Castle and maybe a ghost tour at night. I might perhaps do a day trip on Wednesday if I can arrange it and then Thursday maybe Mary King's Close...we'll see. I have most of the day before I need to return to the airport and fly to London; last stop before I go home. Though I really don't want to leave Europe, traveling has worn me out and I'll be forced to comply. It's going to be hard to return because the food in Europe is amazing as is the ambiance.

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